Lifeway quadruples capacity with Golden Guernsey buyout

Lifeway Foods, Inc., a supplier of kefir cultured dairy products, announced the $7.4 million acquisition of the Golden Guernsey dairy plant in Waukesha, Wisconsin. The newly acquired plant, which is about 170,000 square feet, adds to Lifeway’s manufacturing capacity for kefir-based products currently being churned out at its 50,000-square-foot facility in Illinois. Together, the two facilities will increase Lifeway’s capacity four-fold.

The Golden Guernsey plant was closed in January following a bankruptcy filing. Lifeway plans to reopen the plant this summer and rehire a portion of the workforce to staff the facility. The transaction is expected to close on June 10.

Lifeway's growth has been fueled in part by the burgeoning natural foods movement as well as mounting awareness of the health benefits of probiotic products like kefir. Sales of probiotic foods and supplements jumped 79% over the past two years, at US$2.25 billion in July 2012, according to data from natural foods market research company SPINS. Organic food sales in the U.S. alone soared from $11 billion in 2004 to $27 billion in 2012, according to the Nutrition Business Journal, with growth in conventional grocery stores as well as natural foods markets.

Diversification of Lifeway's product portfolio has also contributed, with innovations ranging from ProBugs? organic kefir drinks for children to the market's first packaged frozen kefir. The company's newest products include freeze-dried Lifeway ProBugs? Bites for infants, other new ProBugs varieties for older children, frozen kefir bars, and a Greek kefir line featuring extra protein.